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Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet
By : ATELIER BRÜCKNER
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 15th edition
Discipline : Interior Design
Categories : Culture, Sport & Leisure / Museum & Gallery : Gold Certification
The Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet immerses visitors in the watch manufacturer’s past, present and future. It is situated in the historical location where the company was established: the small village of Le Brassus. A new spiral-shaped building is embedded in the surrounding landscape and features curved walls made of load-bearing structural glass. Optically flowing transitions characterise the exhibition and depending on the time of day and season, the overall impression changes. Reflections and shadows combine to create a spectacle in which the course of time is inscribed.
Visitors experience the route as a flowing continuum with a composed narration where each chapter has its own design language. They travel through the exhibition as they would through the spring of a timepiece. The scenography offers a diverse experience of watchmaking with crescendos, highpoints and contemplative moments. Various sculptures, automata and kinetic installations give rhythm to the exhibition, which is visually linked to the surrounding landscape.
The history of the company serves as a starting point of the narration: Visitors gain a unique perspective of the Vallée de Joux and of the history of watchmaking. Visitors are invited to try their hand at some of the ancestral techniques perpetuated by Audemars Piguet’s finishing experts. In addition, traditional workshops, where some of the manufacturer’s most complicated timepieces are still perfected today, are integrated in the extended route through the exhibition and can be viewed at any time. The degree of concentration this work requires can be sensed directly.
In the heart of the spiral, visitors approach the “Complications”. These are demonstrated by mechanical installations that give visitors a feeling about the complexity of the watch mechanisms. Eight watches with Grande Complications are placed around the "Universelle" – the most complicated watch that Audemars Piguet has ever created. The design is reminiscent of a solar system with planets rotating around a sun on their orbits and – after all, astronomic cycles are what determine the essence of watchmaking. More than 300 timepieces – each one unique and a superlative exemplar – are shown in the exhibition.
Premium Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet stands for meticulous precision, use of the highest quality materials and the best craftmanship. These values were translated into both the spacial design and the visitor experience. Creating and bringing to life these innovative concepts is not only a magical process, but also requires a lot of preparation: from floorplans and renderings to models and planning of technical details.
Collaboration
Interior Designer : ATELIER BRÜCKNER
Lighting : BELZNER HOLMES und PARTNER
